Group Bias and the Attribution of Mental Properties to Allies, Antagonists, and Automata
Abstract
To date, this project has generated novel evidence that i) threat cues heighten perceptions of in-group allies as strategically capable, and that ii) individual differences linked with threat-reactivity similarly predict confidence in coalitional competence and the prospect of victory. The third year of the project has yielded further support for the core hypotheses motivating the grant. In particular, the findings of Year 3 have produced further evidence that the threat of violent intergroup conflict leads individuals to attribute greater intellect to allies relative to adversaries (Holbrook et al. 2018, Social Psychological and Personality Science), and to believe claims regarding potential hazards (Samore et al. 2018, PLoS ONE). Likewise, individual differences in perceived supernatural support (Holbrook et al. 2018, Religion, Brain and Behavior; Pollack et al. 2018, Human Nature) were observed to heightened confidence in the coalition's prospects for victory in a series of unusually ecologically valid field studies involving realistically simulated gun and knife combat. The studies of the effects of threat on perceptions of social robots conducted in previous years were successfully published (Holbrook 2018; ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems), and the DURIP equipment grant seeking funds for a highly configurable anthropomorphic robot to follow-up on those findings was purchased and installed in my laboratory. Considerable effort has gone into custom-programmingthe robot and preparing virtual reality threat simulations for the planned series of laboratory studies of the effects of threat onmind attribution and related aspects of human-robot interaction, which are now slated to begin in the spring of 2019.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 04, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1065896
Entities
People
- Christopher Holbrook
Organizations
- University of California